Paneled structure and method of forming the same



March 31.1925.

' P. nowLlNG PANELED S'IIRUCTURE AND METHOD O FORMING THE SAME Filea oct. 11, 1924 vMOIIIFIIIW.IlfV-Fu r l Patented Mar. 3l, 1925.

UNITED STATES PETER DOVLING, DE PATEK-SON, NEW JERSEY.

PANELED STRUCTURE AND METHOD OF FORMING THE SAME.

Application led October 1l, 1924. Serial No. 743,169.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, PETER BOWLING, a citizen of the United States, residing at -laterson, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Paneled Structures and Methods of Forming the Same, of which the following is a specification.

Panels for vehicle bodies are now usually composed of exterior thin layers of sheet metal (as galvanized iron) and an intervening thickness of a lighter substance, as wood veneer or creosoted paper, all cemented together, the idea being to provide a panel presenting a hard smooth surface suitable to receive an attractively painted finish and not be easily damaged by a blow and which will be strong and yet relatively light in weight. Usually these panels are secured in position on the vehicle frame by bolts which are simply driven through the panels and support with their heads projccting from the panels. This is objectionable, as the appearance of the panel is spoiled if it is not perfectly smooth; especially is 'this true of panels for the finer types of vehicle bodies which are expensively finished and 'frequently have displayed thereon signs and sometimes pictures which to the oye are marred by the presence of irregularities of any kind in the surface of the panel. Various expedients for fastening these panels in place so that the panel might be treated on its outer face without its fastening means being apparent have been proposed. Boring countersunk holes to receive the bolt heads will not do because the constituent layers of the panels are only cemented together and by this method some of Vthe layers must be left unsecured by the bolts so that the vibration of the vehicle would break down the adhesion and allow the outer layer or layers to work loose. Special fastening expediente have the ob- "v jection that if effective the cost entailed in their use is excessive, requiring as they usually do special operations on the panel.

The object of this invention is two-fold.

That is, to panel a vehicle or other frame in such a way that the paneling will be held with perfect security and so that it will present a perfectly smooth or plane surface.

ln the drawings,

Fig. l shows a vehicle body panel according to this invention;

Fig. 2 is an outside elevation of a fragment of the paneled wall of the vehicle body shown in Fig. l before a certain recess that results in the performance of my invention has been illed up; Y I 3 is a sectional view of what is shown in Fig. 2, taken in a plane coincident with .the axis of the bolt shown in said ligure;

Fig. 4 is a similar section but showing the parts before the said bolt has been drawn into panel-securing position;

Figs. 5 and 6 are views respectively siniilar to Figs. 2 and 3 but showing the parts after the said recess has been lilled up.

The panel may be formed in one piece so as to afford the ent-ire panelled surface a (Fig. 1) or it may be in several sections or separate panels, according to the requirements.

The panel shown in the drawing is of the type in which there are two' exterior layers b b of thin metal, as galvanized iron, and between them other layers b of some compressible material, such as layers of wood veneer. It is not absolutely indispensable that there shouldbe a metal layer at what is to be the inside as well as at the outside of the panel, according to this invention, but there should be in any event a layer` at the outside which is composed of metal so as not only to afford a body which will not warp and will keep the panel perfectly planiform under all conditions but which will stand great stress and friction and which will also bend in the carrying out of my invention.

At each point where the panel is to be secured to the frame an aperture or hole is formed in it as indicated at o in Fig. 4C.

The frame .to which the panel is secured is shown in the drawings as including in the present case uprights d which are usually of wood, as oak. Each upright, at the point where the panel is to be secured thereto, has a hole e drilled therethrough so as to coincide with aperture o of the panel. At the back of the upright and in register with the hole e is a washer f and a nut g.

7L is a bolt whose shank will be received by the holes c and e and which has one end threaded and the other end enlarged to forni a head t, which is preferably conical as shown in Figs. 3 and 6.

With the panel presented as in Fig. l with its aperture o registering with hole and 1 o't' the upright, and with the washer and nut placed as shown in Fig'. 3, the bolt L as a screw device is screwed through the aperture c into the support formed by Z g until the head oit the bolt, by its clampingkoacticn with said support, compresses the 'arterial out the panel around its said aperure to such an extent that a recess z' is "ormed in the outer surface of the panel. treat the parts (l g as together forming support, because I donot wish to be lmited pecifically to the use oit a bolt having a nut and washer and in that way being operative to compress the panel as described,

sin e longI as there is pres-ent a screw dev vscrewed into a support 1n any way my ini'ention will be' accomplished; a bolt, will a. nut and washer, or at least with a nut), is preferred because usually the'torce necessary to obtain the compression ot the panel as described could not be obtained by a mere screw Adriven directly into the upright (Z it, as usual, it is :termed ot wood. rlfhe linal step in my method ot iranelirrgi so that the panel will securely Jrfastened resent a perfectly smooth outer surliace is the .lilling` ot the recess ot the depression z' with a metal substance flush with the outer tace ot the panel. rlfhis l do so that the filling' bstance will be amalgamated with the metal layer or sheath oit the panel. 'ifo this endrl having lirst treated the metal. layer in the recess with a Aflux or an acid, l introduce. lillingrof solder into said depression to a level where the surtace et the lilliug will be flush with the {feneral eater tace el' thepanel, as by overi'flling the depression with the tillingand tinally smoothing;` the tilling` down to the exact plane or the exposed tace o't layer Y).

r the result o't ay invention is that the pa e, when fastened to the upright in the way described and at a number otvpoiuts, as usual and as indicated at 7o in Fig. l, will be held it any thing more securely than by the ordinary .method .lirst hereinbeitore 'eter-red to or by any other known method, an'l the panel at the same time presents a pertectly smooth and permanently intact exterior surta-,ce adapted to receive a paint or other finish without any irregularities therein.

I use a conical headed screw device partly to ease the entering action thereof and partly to insure the compressing of the material ot the panel without disrupting or otherwise injuringthe same, and particularly its thin more or less tlerzible outer metal layer bpsuch head acting gradually to expand the material as it presses it inward and so bends inward some it not all ot the layers-frequently all ot the layers will be liound to undergo this bending, the wood ot the upright being actually indented as shown by Fig. 3.

Having thus 'fully described my invention whatl claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

i. rlhe hereindescribed method consistiimr in placing an apertured cinnpress'ble laminated panel ol the class specilied and hayingl a metallic outer layer against the support to which the panel is to be secured, screwing a screw device haring a head oli great J area than the aperture ot the panel through said aperture and into the support until the head compresses thc panel around the aperture and becomes sunken below the outer surt'ace ct said layer leaving a depression therein, `and linally lillng said depression with a metal which will anialn'amate with tliemetal ot said outer layer ot the panel and to a level `flush with said surit'ace.

Q. A panelled structure includinga sup port', a con'ipressible laminated panel bearH infr against the support and including a mctallic flexible layer remote from tl e support and a compressible layer body between the metallic layer and support, a headed screw device screwed into the support through the :panel yand having its head sunken below the outer sui-'tace ol' the panel and holding the material ol the panel immediately ari'iirnd said device compressed, and a metal llinal occupying said recess and amalgama ed with the metallic layer and having' its er:- posed surtace 'tlush with the outer-surtace et the panel.

ln testimony whereof I ailiX my signature.

PETE; DOi IG. 

